


How to Train your Ysalamir

by Gryps



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Cuteness and great adventures, Gen, Reader-Insert, Ysalamir being cute, and Silliness, it's all cuteness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-09-26 23:39:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9931277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gryps/pseuds/Gryps
Summary: A baby ysalamir escapes Thrawn's surveillance by mistake and is off to live great adventures with the pilot (you) who took him in.Shenanigans follow.





	1. Finding you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ArgentGale](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentGale/gifts).



> Hello guys! Nothing much to read here I'm afraid, it's just silliness and baby ysalamir being cute.
> 
> This work is actually a sorta-AU of ArgentGale's awesome work [Welcome Aboard](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9637901), in which the ninth egg was actually viable and was just a huge lazy-ass little fella who hatched late and escaped.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this! :D

A low growl escaped from your throat as you sunk your head deeper under your pillow. You were tired – no, _exhausted_ – and you only had a couple of hours left to sleep before your next shift, and you wanted to be dead to the galaxy for every single second of them. The last few weeks had been crazy, and you weren’t sure of when you’d be able to have a full night of sleep again... and yet, here you were, obviously not tired enough to ignore the constant and long whining of the ventilation coming from above your head. It was unusual for it to be that loud, maybe something got stuck inside of it?

Lifting your head, you glared at the ceiling and the offending vent. It was too late to call for a technician and it would never be done before hours. Yet, there was no way you could sleep with all that noise. You hesitated a moment, staring up. You _did_ have a screwdriver laying somewhere and the ventilation shaft seemed wide enough for you to take a look and crawl inside if you could fix it. It would take certainly some time, but you couldn’t sleep anyway, and four hours of sleep would be better than no sleep at all. With a sigh, you gave up and pushed aside the sheets.

It didn’t take you more than ten minutes to find the necessary tools and start working the grate open. As expected, the metal didn’t offer much resistance and the screws gave up quickly. Soon, the grate was resting carefully against the wall and you stood up on your bed to glance inside. The whining was more irregular now, and also less clear as if whatever was stuck was finally giving up on waking the whole ship up. The first glance didn’t reveal anything, and you groaned when you realized you would really have to do a little exploring.

You got down to put your Imperial sweater on and to grab a torch, sticking some possibly useful tools in your pockets before climbing back up on your bed. You grabbed the edge of the opening and lifted yourself off the ground with the strength of your arms. Closing your eyes, you concentrated on locating the source of the noise but the echo was making it really difficult. Guess you really would have to explore around. It took running into a few dead ends, but you finally managed to follow the noise. Luckily, it wasn’t very far, but what you found was not what you expected at all.

In a corner, a little white ball was almost painfully trilling, shaking slightly. Tilting your head to the side, you crawled closer and lit it up with the torch, making the ball move and curl into an even tighter ball. You felt your heart break at the pitiful sight and you moved the light away, gently and quietly moving closer so as to not frighten it more. Lifting your head, you looked all around you for more little balls. Was it alone? What was it doing here anyway? You crawled close enough to poke gently the strange thing with the tip of your fingers, and the ball pressed itself in the corner, visibly afraid. “Hey little fella...” you whispered sweetly, lying flat on the cold metal to appear less intimidating. “Are you lost?”

You cleared your throat as silently as you could, and tried to imitate the trilling sounds he was doing earlier as best as you could. There was certainly some progress to be made, but at last, the little ball lifted its head, looking for the origin of the noise. The ball was, in fact, a tiny lizard with four eyes and a furry spine. You had no idea how he ended up here but you couldn’t just leave him there now, could you? After some more gentle trills, you managed to coax him enough to make him sniff and nuzzle your fingers. Then, undoubtedly feeling your heat, he didn’t hesitate to nestle in the palm of your hand, his chirping much more content.

Carefully, you cradled him closer to you. What were you going to do with him now? “Come on, let’s go back to my room.” You gently hid the lizard in your collar on the back of your neck, under your hair where you knew he would be nice and warm and that he wouldn’t bother you while crawling. It took you some time to remember the way back to your room, and you thanked your good sense of direction when your feet safely found the ground. You struggled a bit to put the grate back in place— the process of replacing it being much harder than removing it—and let out a long and relieved sigh when you could finally sit on your bed.

The lizard hadn’t moved, only tangling more in your hair to make a little nest. It would be a pain to brush this mess in the morning but right now you didn’t care. You were worried the little one needed something other than just your heat, but you were reluctant to wake him up... and for what really? You could give him water, but you had nothing more than that and some high-energy bars. You had no idea what lizards were supposed to eat. Yawning, you decided to push back all those questions in the morning and were more than happy to snuggle back under your sheets, rolling on your belly to not disturb the little fella. “Good night, dude. See you in the morning,” you mumbled, before making a small trilling sound. You felt the lizard shift on you neck and let out a sleepy chirp, bringing a soft smile on your lips as you fell asleep.


	2. Bringing you back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You talk with the rest of your squadron about your little getaway, and try to learn a bit more about your new friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terrible with names. Why can't people have numbers instead?

You were right. Your hair was a disaster this morning. The little devil has somehow found a way to tangle himself in every single strand of hair of your head, and no matter how hard you pulled on your brush, nothing was fixing this huge mess. “This is all your fault,” you mumbled accusingly at the baby lizard, who was watching you happily from next to the sink. “Look at what you’ve done. I saved you, and this is how you thank me? You’re lucky you’re too small to be turned into a handbag.” As an answer, the lizard made the cutest chirp and you couldn’t stop yourself from stroking his soft fur, making him arch his tiny back for more pets. “You’re terrible. Come on, let me finish this and we’ll get you something to eat.”

You still had no idea what food this creature was supposed to eat, but you couldn’t let him starve either. It took you ten solid minutes to finally fix your hair and it was already time to go back on duty. Of course, you couldn’t just walk with an animal in your arms, so you would have to find a way to sneak him to the mess. At first, you had thought of putting him in your pocket but quickly gave up the idea when he didn’t stop fidgeting. It was he who found his place... right back on you neck, hidden in the collar of your uniform. Meh. Why not, after all. You just hoped he would stay still and not try to poke his head out to see what was around.

Luckily for you, the small one seemed to be easily spooked and it should be enough to keep him from leaving your clothes for the time being. Taking a deep breath, you stepped out of your room with your usual impassible face and made your way to the mess. You were soon joined in the corridor by other members of your squadron, greeting you with a yawn. Apparently, this night had been long for everyone. After your usual greeting, you turned to your flight partner – Meeko – with a blank face. “Dude. You’ll never guess what happened to me last night...”

You waited to be seated on your table in front of your food, surrounded by the other pilots of your squadron before telling them the whole story. “A... lizard? What do you mean a lizard?” Swallowing quickly, you pulled on your collar and made a trilling sound to call your little friend, who poked his nose out of your collar with a curious look.

There was a collective gasp from all around you and you lifted up your head from your plate, looking at them curiously. Tarek was the first one to talk. “Is it... oh stars, this is an ysalamir! Where did you get him? You have to give him back, quickly!”

You arched your brow, trying to find a piece of food on your plate your new friend could possibly like. “I just told you how I got him, were you not listening? And anyway, what the hell is a salsify?” You cut down a very small piece of fruits and brought him to his face, letting him sniff it.

“An _ysalamir_. They are... Grand Admiral Thrawn’s favorite pets. He keeps them like his babies… How this one escaped is a miracle. He’s so small too; he must be a baby. And he is white too, I’ve never heard of a white one. Oh, you’re so screwed. If he thinks you stole him...”

“I didn’t _steal_ him!” you said indignantly, scaring off the little one from his food and making him hide back in your collar. “I _rescued_ him! How the hell do you know so much about it anyway? Do you even know what it’s supposed to eat?” You tried to gently call the small beast back and gave him another piece of fruit.

Truth was, this wasn’t your ship at all. You all belonged to another fleet, but the recent rebel attacks had forced your Admiral to send one of his squadron to the Chimaera, long enough until other pilots could be sent to replace the lost ones. In the meantime, you were stuck here under the order of a Grand Admiral you had never seen, in this unfamiliar environment. That Tarek knew so much about him was surprising.

“I was able to talk to the pilots while you were talking with the other squadron’s leaders about routines and protocols on the Chimaera. They taught me a lot of things... and no, I don’t know what they eat. He seems to like your fruit though.” That he did. He was avidly licking the remaining juice off your long fingers, leaving a tickling feeling on the skin. Chuckling, you tried another fruit, and a small piece of salad. “You look so cuuuuuute together! What are you going to call him?”

You glared at your friend, and ate some of your breakfast too. “I won’t call him anything! I’m going to give him back— I can’t keep him. I’m a pilot; it’s too dangerous to take him with me.” Besides, no matter how cute he was, you still had no idea how to take care of him. What if you did something wrong?

“It’s still... Surprising no one is looking for him. I mean, have you heard any word about a lost ysalamir? I know it’s still early, but... Maybe they don’t know he disappeared yet? You should go give him back now.” You nodded and stood up, taking your tray with you, your partner following you. You didn’t know exactly where you were supposed to go to give him back, but it must be close to the bridge, right? You were on your way in the turbolift when you caught a conversation between two officers. “Oh, did you hear the last news? The eggs finally hatched!” You glanced at Meeko, suddenly tensed. “Eight brand new lizards. At least the Admiral will be in a good mood today... Do you think he will let us leave early?”

Oh, this wasn’t good. If the news were already spread but no one was looking for a missing one, then that meant... no one was actually looking for him. You ignored the rest of their conversation and, after a final glance to Meeko, you excused yourself and made your way out of turbolift at the next stop. “This is bad,” you whispered to him. “They aren’t looking for him.”

“Maybe they just haven’t notice he’s missing yet?” he offered, trying to give you a reassuring smile.

“Since last night? If Tarek is right, there is no way we wouldn’t have heard of it. Do you... Do you think...” You hesitated, grabbing Meeko by the arms to pull him in an empty room. “Do you think he tried to get rid of him? Because he’s... an albino?” A look of horror appeared on your partner’s face and he glanced at your collar, trying to see the white lizard. “We don’t know anything about him,” you continued calmly, anticipating his objections. “If he is anything like our Admiral, then it’s a huge possibility.”

The silence fell on the two of you, and you found yourselves looking at each other hesitantly. “We could... wait?” Meeko tried, scratching the back of his head. “See if they are looking for him? And if they don’t... well, we’ll see what we do if it happens.”

Your face stayed blank for a moment. “Damn it!” you cursed, keeping your voice low. “Shara was right. Now I have to name him!”


	3. Naming you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to name your new baby!

The light was cold and white in your room. Sitting in a chair in front of a small table, you watched with a tender smile as the lizard played with the little toys you’d managed to make with your squad. You’d had him for several days, and you had yet to hear about a missing ysalamir wandering the ship... You sighed sadly. “I’m sorry little guy. Guess you’re stuck with me now.” You gently petted his flank, and he gave you a happy trill and an impatient nuzzle before resuming his game of running after a little ball coming from an old ball bearing. Playfully, you made the ball roll further, and watched with amusement as he hurried up to catch it.

This last days had been crazy, and the ysalamir had never left your side. Too afraid to leave him alone in your room – it was certainly way too cold for him – you’d brought him with you absolutely everywhere you went, including to the gym during your daily workout. He was always hiding in the hood of your sweater, which was either on your back or lying next to you. You knew now what food he seemed to like better, and as he had yet to get sick, you thought you were doing pretty well at our new job of taking care of him. Only those in your squad were aware of his existence, and together you had managed to hide him from the rest of the crew so far.

But now, you were enjoying a rare break and you were more than happy to share it with him. You still had to find him a name, and it had taken exactly five minutes for you to regret asking for advice. Everybody had an idea, of course, and it obviously turned into a chaotic mess before you even finished your question. You sighed again, and rested your head on your crossed arms. “Alright. Let’s find you a proper name. I can’t call you bro for the rest of your life.”

You watched him attentively. You admired the way the artificial lights danced on his scales, revealing a pearly white. Each day brought new shades and highlights, from the deepest grey to the softest blue, with hints of purple and gold. His four eyes were all almost ice blue and always sparkling with happiness and excitement, and you could never stop yourself from nuzzling his little head every time he looked up at you. His fur, too, was starting to show some colors but more discreetly, taking golden highlights. Maybe it would turn darker as he grew, you could only imagine. “You’re so beautiful,” you whispered sweetly. “How could anyone want to get rid of you?”

You grabbed a small stick you turned into a toy by tying a lace to an end. On the other end of the lace were feathers Shara managed to find, you didn’t know how. The ysalamir quickly gave up on the ball, getting distracted by the wiggling feathers and he ran after them, attacking them ferociously. He trilled proudly as he shook his head to defeat the mighty beast, but you managed to pull on the stick at the right time to make them escape.

The game lasted nearly an hour, and you made a mental note to ask Shara for more feathers if she could find them. He was going to destroy them all quickly, especially if he was going to grow up. “What should I call you?” you mused, the reptile completely ignoring you. “There is no way I’m calling you ‘Snowball’ or ‘Coal’. Tarek can burn in hell.” You let him jump on the lace, blocking its escape as he pulled each feather out one by one. “How about Stardust? Or... hm... Jack?”

Yawning, you straightened your back and stretched, before letting out a long sigh. “Come on junior, it’s time for bed.” You gathered him in your hands with the utmost care— always afraid of hurting him— and brought him up to your face for some happy trills and nuzzles. You stared into his eyes, full of life and shining with joy, and you smiled tenderly at him. “Spark. I’m going to call you… Spark.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you ArgentGale who found the name Spark for the white ysalamir. <3 Because I'm still terrible with names. :D


	4. Learning about you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you have to be the proud possessor of a furry lizard, then you need to be prepared.

“We need information,” you said, your eyes on Spark as you made him bite into your banana. “We can’t just keep guessing what he needs. Stars, for all we know I’ve been poisoning him with fruits since the very beginning. Are there... holorecords or anything we could use?” Sitting on the wing of your TIE Fighter, you had just finished working on it. Like everybody on your team, you liked taking care of your ship yourself, and being on the Chimaera surrounded by unknown mechanics didn’t change that.

“Well, someone has to take care of them. Thrawn is a Grand Admiral and he has a fleet to run, he can’t just spend all his time taking care of them... especially considering all the attention they need,” Ghatis reasoned, nodding towards the small reptile. “Actually, I’m sure there is someone dedicated to take care of them. I mean, this is a very specific species, if something goes wrong he wouldn’t have time to find an expert in lizards. We just need to find that person and... make them talk.”

“There are thousands of people working on this ship. How do you propose we find that specific person? Put an announcement on the holonet?” came the grumpy voice of Meeko. You chuckled softly and started to make Spark run on your arm, clicking your fingers lightly to guide him. Maybe ysalamir could be trained? It could be interesting if you wanted him to stay hidden all the time.

“No, Ghatis is right,” Shara intervened pensively. “Such a person would have to be close to Thrawn, so I’m sure they must work pretty close to the bridge, or maybe his private quarters. Chief, you’re a squadron leader, you have access to that part of the ship for your briefings with the higher commanders. You’re new here, if you wander on the ship, you can just say you’re lost.”

“Then you find the lizard-dude and make him talk about ysalamir! Easy as pie!”

“Our next mission is tomorrow. I have time to make a small program to... hack into their database and copy it if you manage to connect it to a terminal.”

You glanced at them one by one, turning the plan in your head. It could work. It wouldn’t be easy of course, but had you really any other choice? You needed that information, you couldn’t just play with Spark’s life. “Then it’s settled. Shara, I’ll need that program for tomorrow.”

After all, what could possibly go wrong?

* * *

Turns out, _everything_ could go wrong.

It started well though. The mission was a success, no real complications, everybody was happy and the program had been finished on time. The first problem was leaving Spark with a member of the squad. “Come oooon, Spark. I can’t take you with me this time, if someone sees you—“ you hissed between your teeth, making him hide in your collar further. You talked about this with the others and they agreed: taking him in a room full of potential ysalamirs was too dangerous.

Unfortunately, Spark didn’t share your point of view, and you had little time to catch him. You thought you had won this battle when he was firmly held by your hand, but then he started to trill very loudly in alarm when you tried to give him to Meeko. “Spark! Shhhht!” This was bad. You had absolutely no time for this. “Spark please, stop being difficult!”

Suddenly, there were heavy footsteps closing in on your position and you had just enough time to let him hide back under your clothes, effectively stopping the sounds. “Is everything alright there?”

“Yes, sir!” Meeko saluted, putting himself slightly in front of you just in case. “Just a small leak in the vent system – we fixed it already. I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”

You could feel the cold little legs of the reptile climbing your arm under your sleeve, quickly reaching your shoulders. “Oh, alright. Captain, are you ready to go? The Commander is waiting for us.” Cursing in your head and nodding slowly, you tucked your helmet under your arm and fell into step behind the other captains. You simply gave a small glance at Meeko who was watching you worriedly.

Luckily, Spark was trained enough to stay still during the whole meeting, only fidgeting a little when you had to turn your head. The briefing didn’t last long and soon enough you were released in the corridors, allowing you to relax but only slightly. The first part was done, but now you had to find your way in this strange ship. You knew each corridor of your capital ship; However, each Admiral could rearrange the rooms of their ship as they pleased, and... well, you would soon know that Grand Admiral Thrawn didn’t like to do things like the others.

It didn’t take you more than ten minutes to be completely and genuinely lost. You could more-or-less find your way back to the turbolift, but otherwise, you couldn’t even begin to understand how this ship was organized. After another dead end, you felt Spark getting a little impatient under your collar. If he was used to stay under your clothes, it was rare for him to stay hidden for so long. Usually you were either alone or with your squad. “Hang in there, Spark,” you whispered, pretending to toy with your collar to stroke his soft fur, before trilling softly at him.

You felt Spark starting to nuzzle your fingers, before hearing a trilling sound... that did not come from your collar. Alarmed, you suddenly looked up and around you, but you were alone in the corridor. Carefully, you put back your helmet. Your flight suit being made to resist the void of your cockpit, with your helmet on, there was no escape for your white friend. After a couple of seconds, you tried another soft trill and listened carefully.

At first, only the peaceful purr of the engines working all around you answered you, but then, another trill came ahead, slightly to the left. Slowly, you made your way toward the noise. It didn’t take too long for the other trilling culprit to come to you, walking happily along the wall. It stopped suddenly when it saw you, lifting its head and looking at you quizzically, as if it wasn’t expecting you. Carefully, you knelt on the floor and trilled again, curious to see what the other one would do.

Since you had Spark, your trilling got way better and now, even Meeko couldn’t say which one of you was trilling. Granted, with your helmet on, the sound was certainly deformed and quite weird but it seemed to do the trick just fine. The curious golden ysalamir soon climbed on your open hand, and you stroked gently the short fur with your gloved hand. It was smaller than Spark, much smaller, you mused as the new comer was trilling joyfully under the pet. Maybe a female?

“Twinkle! Oh, there you are!” You lifted your head just in time to see a man, running to you, visibly breathless. You felt Spark struggling against your clothes, finding his way to your shoulder to run all along your arm, trying to get closer to what you could guess was his sister. “I looked for you everywhere! How did you escape?” Then, lifting his head, he looked at you. “Who are you?” The man wasn’t wearing a uniform, just a white coat over civilian clothes. You smirked under your helmet victoriously. Now you were getting somewhere!

“I’m Captain [Y/LN], I’m sorry,” you whispered, still petting the reptile. “I found it running in the corridor. I did not mean any harm...”

“Oh no- don’t apologize please, I should be thanking you, I’m sorry. I’m Rodrick, I’m part of the team who takes care of the ysal- the... reptile you’re holding. This one managed to escape, I’ve looking for her for hours now.”

You went to give her back to him, but as quickly as thunder, she ran up your arm to stand proudly on your shoulder, trilling playfully at her caretaker. Facing the desperate expression of the poor man, you jumped on the occasion. “How about... I bring her back with you to her cage? She seems to like my shoulder... I promise not to lose her on the way.” There was a moment of hesitation on Rodrick’s face, but you anticipated his protests. “It’s no trouble really. Come on, lead the way. I’m sure she is hungry.”

It didn’t take much more convincing, and soon you were walking next to the caretaker, who were happily talking about the ysalamir. It was the perfect occasion. Rodrick was a real chatterbox, and soon you learnt more about Spark than since you had him. You tried to remember everything, just in case you couldn’t access their database. Twinkle was having fun running all over you, trying to chase the moving form of Spark. Two corridors later and you were stepping in the room reserved for the furry reptiles.

“Here! Just show her the food in the cage and she’ll leave you alone.” You did as you were told quietly and, as soon as the tiny lizard spotted the pile of fruits, she trilled joyfully and almost jumped off your shoulder to hurry back in her place. You kept your chuckle in your throat and carefully removed the black helmet protecting your head.

“I’m sorry... do you mind? It’s awfully hot under this...”

It took him maybe five seconds to understand what you were talking about. “Oh! No, don’t worry about that, I’m not even in the Navy! I’m just here to take care of those little guys here.”

You smiled and nodded, tucking the helmet under your arms and leant against the wall nonchalantly, looking around you. An arm behind your back, you silently inserted the memory device into the terminal you located just behind you, and let the hacking program of Shara do its work. This was actually going better than expected!

“So... are they all that small, or do they grow up later?”

It was so easy to make him talk. Even when he was busy preparing meals of the little ones, or making sure everyone was in perfect health, he was making a point to explain to you every step, enthusiastically showing you his tools or pictures. Your helmet was safely resting against the terminal, hiding the memory stick slowly copying the whole database. In your collar, Spark was agitated and it was getting difficult to keep him hidden. Luckily, Rodrick was too busy to pay much attention, and you had the excuse of the high temperature of the room to fidget with the collar of your suit.

A red blinking light behind your helmet informed you that the transfer was completed. Alright, it was time for you to make your exit. You straightened your back and started to smile when you felt a frozen breath on the back of your neck, making you stop in your tracks. The atmosphere of the whole room seemed to change and you stayed very still, unable to move a single finger. You were an ace pilot, the captain of one of the deadliest squadrons in the Empire and yet, something was telling you that you were under the gaze of a dangerous predator, ready to pounce on his prey – you. 

“Well... what do we have here?” came a velvet and calm voice behind you, making you shiver. Slowly you turned your head to meet a crimson gaze.

Oh, _shit_.


End file.
